History of Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram’s history draws back from 1000 BCE. King Solomon’s ships were landed in port Ophir in the city in 1936. Ays and rulers of Venad ruled this area. In 1745, Thiruvananthapuram was made capital of Travancore. In mid 19th century, during the region of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal and Maharaja Ayilyam Thirunal, area had its golden days, which saw many developments. In early 20th century city has seen tremendous political and social change. Travancore joined Indian Union in 1949, and Thiruvananthapuram became capital of Thiru-Kochi state. Kerala was formed on 1st November 1956 with Thiruvananthapuram as its capital city.

Geography of Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram also known as Trivandrum is built on seven hills by the sea shore. City is surrounding by Arabian Sea on the west and Western Ghats on the east. Vellayani, Thiruvallam and Akkulam backwaters lies in the city. It has an average elevation of 5 meters from sea level and spreads in 250 sq kms. Thiruvananthapuram is moderately prone to earthquake and it is in Seismic III Zone according to Geological Survey of India.

Government and Administration of Thiruvananthapuram
Corporation of Trivandrum takes care of the civic administration in the city, which is ranked 2nd out of 21 Cities for best governance & administrative practices in India in 2014. CRPF has it’s headquarter in the city. City contributes one member to Indian Assembly and seven members to Kerala Legislative assembly.

Language and Culture of Thiruvananthapuram
The city of Thiruvananthapuram has been the centre of cultural activities of Kerala from erstwhile of Travancore. Maharaja Swathi Thirunal, a great composer himself and played a vital role in the development of Carnatic music. The general cuisine of Kerala generally contains lot of coconut and spices. Thiruvananthapuram city possess many statues of freedom fighters, political leaders, rulers of Travancore, statues in other categories such as animals, fiction, etc in Kerala. Malayalam is widely spoken n the city followed by Tamil, Hindi and English.

Educational Institutes of Thiruvananthapuram
Trivandrum houses India's one and only magic academy, run by Merlin award winning magician Gopinath Muthukad. The Swathi Thirunal College of Music and 'College of fine arts' are the colleges related to music and arts. Trivandrum houses The University of Kerala and The regional headquarters of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Thiruvananthapuram is an academic hub which includes fifteen engineering colleges, three medical colleges, two Homeopathy colleges, three Ayurveda colleges, six other medical related colleges, and two law colleges in the city and its suburbs.

Transport Facilities in Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is the first international airport in India outside the then four metropolitan cities. It is well connected globally. Thiruvananthapuram comes under the Southern Railway zone and houses five railway stations namely Thiruvananthapuram central station, Thiruvananthapuram Pettah, Kochuveli, Veli stations and Thiruvananthapuram Nemom. National Highway 47 passes through the city. Infrastructure development for the Deep Water Container Trans-shipment Port at Vizhinjam is going on and is expected to begin in 2015.

Tourism in Thiruvananthapuram
Agastyakoodam is one of the highest peaks in the Western Ghats history says that the great sage Agasthya lived on this peak. Anchuthengu is a place of historic importance where the first settlement of the English East India Company was established in 1864 A.D. Arippa is Ecotourism destination under the government, is an excellent trekking destination. Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple, the Kanakakkunnu Palace, the Science and Technology Museum, the Kowdiar Palace, St. Joseph’s Cathedral, the Tagore Centenary theatre and the Museum, Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, are some of the tourist attractions in the city.

Festivals Celebrated in Thiruvananthapuram
Nishagandhi Dance Festival is organized by The Tourism Development Corporation. Leading artists of Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Mohiniyattam, Kathak, Modern ballet and other folk form will perform at the open-air theatre of Nishagandhi in the Kanakakunnu Palace compound. Attukal Pongala is celebrated between 18 and 26 of February, at Attukal Bhagavati Temple, is a ten-day festival. On the 9th day, thousands of women devotees gather in the temple to prepare Pongola. Onam falls during the Malayalam month of Chingam and is consider as Malayalam New Year. It is celebrated for four days.